Agreed. I'm in that same boat. Driehaus was just on wlw to talk about his vote and the reasoning. Mike McConnell basically got him to admit that there's no language in the bill to explain how the savings would occur, only that the CBO said it would happen.
So basically, you're against things on the basis of an assumption of what might happen with a unified electronic medical record system, and equally assuming that the IRS doesn't ALREADY have access to that info even in paper form, from the insurance companies and hospitals/clinics? 2014 does seem to be the date when everything starts kicking in. I was struck by the fact that the STUDENT LOAN program seems to have been modified in the HEALTH CARE bill. I guess that's where they shaved the budget to bring things in under the cost limit. If anyone want to look for the dreaded "Government takeover!", then this is the place where it's valid.
I haven't answered the question because you haven't showed me a citation. I haven't found anything that says the IRS will have access to your medical records.
I say screw the middle man! If the government wants to loan money to students then let them do it directly.
I can't wait to see what the numbers end up as. The US government already spends 15% of its GDP on healthcare where Canada spends 10%. We have a longer life expectancy and lower infant mortality rate. In my opinion, the US needed a rework of its existing system much more than adding to the pile.
CUBA has a lower infant mortality rate than the U.S.! The infant mortality rate of Hong Kong, Japan, Sweden, Bermuda, and Singapore, are LESS THAN HALF of the rate of the U.S., according to the Central Intelligence Agency. (The World Factbook is an interesting resource I've only recently discovered! I feel like a top Analyst now! ) Is it me, or is there something creepy about a CIA Kid's Page?
I've been forwarding around that Obama graphic you posted yesterday, with him reviving Karl Marx. Got some good chuckles out of it. The response around here had been pretty muted considering, I think everybody was expecting the loss and are just knuckling down for November.
November doesn't mean squat; this is irreversible even with a Republican majority. You think Obama is going to sign legislation undoing his work? Or that Republicans are going to tell their senior constituents that they're reinstating the loophole that means that they need to kick in more for their prescriptions again?
Oh yeah, the genie's out of the bottle for sure. The general consensus is that they just want to punish in November. None of it really matters though, both parties are pitiful.
No you won't answer it because you don't like the answer. The IRS is going to have access to our records sooner or later. Obama himself said he hasn't done a good job communicating this bill and the IRS role is still defined as an "expanding role" with an additional 17k jobs. That's all I can find on it. But, they're going to be auditing people. How do you prove that you have insurance? Right now all you have to do to "prove" you have insurance is to check a box on the tax return. How the hell is that going to prove anything? Give them your history/records or they will get them somehow. I can't imagine they'd have any problems getting them if you're on the public option anyways. I do agree with this. Plus I'd like to think they could limit the amount universities can charge for education. It's an enormous risk to spend that money in today's economy (IIRC CHapel had a thread on that).
If you can't find it then it's a non issue. I've already explained to you what the IRS's involvement is, to enforce the mandate and collect the tax from those that don't meet the minimum requirements and to establish who qualifies for health care credits. How would the IRS know if you meet the minimum requirements? They look at your policy, they have no need for other personal medical info and unless you can show me that they will in fact be accessing personal medical info then it's a non sequitur. Is there an alternative? Is there a better way to enforce/collect such a tax/mandate? I'm all ears if something better has been proposed. But as it stands now all you are doing is regurgitating a republican fear mongering talking point.
Not creating another entitlement program we can't afford has been proposed, no IRS involvement is a key feature!
I'm kind of on the fence on this one, with regard to affordability, since I'm self-employed, and have to pay my own insurance, and the cost is astronomical without such a high deductible that I may as well never get sick in my life without going bankrupt. From my vantage point, I'm already paying for something I can't afford. The fact that it's the private sector insurance-medical-industrial complex instead of the government really makes this point moot to me. I'm already rationing my own health care beyond the bounds of sanity, so calls that the government will ration my care is laughable. At this point, I'm happy to see how things will fall out. I'm not at all happy with the LEVEL of the debate overall, recently. All the vitriol, rumor-mongering, e-mails bouncing around the hate in a positive-reinforcement loop, and near incitement to riot, has left me sick. On this point I'm happy that health care passed just to quench my own anger, by yelling "IN YOUR FACE!" to all the protesters who only know that they are angry, and when asked why, can only recite jingles made up by PR and media/entertainment firms that have twisted truth at best, and usually worse than that. It's to the point where I can understand what drives folks to rooftops with guns. (Don't worry! I'm not THAT far gone! )
But I may be. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35989945/ns/business-us_business/ as i've said all along, this whole fraud perpetrated upon the American working man and woman is not for the benefit of non commercial intterests. Affordable healthcare is laughable at best. My wife works part time but has cigna available to her. For a total of 2/3 of her gross wages and that POS policy doen't even pay for anything. The closest doctor and healthcare on their "list" is in Lane County, 170 miles away. What a scam. For 5 grand a year, we may as well self insure. Our maintenance medical costs are only 1 grand a year. You can bet you bottom dollar, that the government's idea of "affordable" and what the public has in mind, are two different things. Nobody wins but doctors, lawyers, pharmaceuticals and insurance. Especially now that yoiu haven't a choice, you have to purchase it. I use auto insurance as an example for how insurnce policies that are mandetory will end up. When it comes to health insurance the stakes are at least 100X higher. Who do you believe is going to take it in the ass? It's nothing more than another fraud to add to the list. My next question? "Does anyone have the ballz to do anything about it?" didn't think so.
Does that mean you are against all government subsidies? Including, farming, oil, medical, research, small and large business, broadband, tv, military, and so on?
Who's going to do anything about? What's your proposal? Do you know anyone in government currently working on a similar proposal? What you want mistawiskas (although I doubt you'd come out and say it) is a single payer system where the middleman is eliminated. In the best case scenario health care costs do come down and people like you can afford it again. In the worst case scenario health care prices continue to rise and insurance companies (like the credit card companies) continue to find loopholes. BUT! If that does happen then the American people will demand change once again and either a public option will be proposed or it will be a single payer option. In the end if it wasn't for this piece of legislation health care reform would not be moving and the status quo would continue (and as you have experienced, that's not helping in one bit). Like most people for this bill, it's a good first step and it's a step that politicians have been week or hesitant on making.
That's just it, the status quo continuing is what this is all about. A trojan horse. It took a shit ton of politics to wrangle this one and it's not going to address the real problem: costs. You honestly think that if this doesn't work, there'll be another attempt? Or worse yet, an attempt to fix the unfixable? What will start out as "affordable" will end up costing more and more. A single payer system would be better than this POS. But, and that's a huge "but" if costs aren't limited, even that will suck dirty canal water through a dead hog's ass eventually. The unaffordability of health insurance, is not the problem. It's a symptom of the underlying causes. Without insurance, three meds would cost me $980/month. Now look at this: http://www.health-report.co.uk/obscene_drug_mark_ups.htm All for drugs who's side effects include the items: death, fatal, permenant, life threatening. The good thing? I found that changing my lifestyle has "treated" my symptoms 100X better than those outrageous meds. One med, the most expensive one, is one that the HHS pushes for public assistance cases. So, you and I along with every taxpayer, is taken totll advantage of and we don't even realize it. for all the cost, you'd expect a better life expectancy in the USA. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_life_expectancy 38/195 that's bullshit, especially when you factor in this: http://www.jhsph.edu/publichealthnews/press_releases/2005/anderson_healthspending.html
How am I regurgitating anything? That's my opinion on how things will work and you're avoiding the question. If and when the IRS takes hold of personal information how are you going to view it? Are you going to be up in arms like you were over the patriot act? You can tip toe around it all you want but you're not answering anything. As for being called a republican...well I guess that's better than being part of the tea party lol. I'm far from the traditional bible thumping republican that you see in office.
Apples/oranges. None of those are entitlement programs, and for the most part normal functions appropriate for a federal government to be involved in.
uhh no. I don't want the federal government spending money anywhere outside of keeping law and order. If local governments decide to do things differently, that's their bag. But leave it there. Government spending is out of control, and they aren't spending our money wisely. Too much waste, too much money going to private interests rather than public.
This health care bill does nothing but add regulations and subsidies to American citizens just like all the above programs. The only difference is one is for businesses and the other is for the American citizens.
